Chicken-McBites

US: Rolling out the bite-sized chicken snacks

Increasingly consumers don’t want to sit at a table to eat, cut their food, let alone use two hands. Fast-food restaurants say that consumers are flocking to foods that are small and easy to eat in cars. The latest wave of innovation is in bite-sized chicken snacks.

Americans love fried chicken. Just like they love chips and dip. So what could be tastier, fast-food restaurants conclude, than chicken you can eat like chips and dip.

Restaurants are rolling out new menu items to meet this logic. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen calls this food strategy “ip’ns,” referring to fried chicken dishes designed to be dipped or ripped.

The “ip’ns” and other fast-food finger foods are the next step in the larger trend of creating items that are easier to eat in the car and on the go. Restaurants that promise quick, inexpensive meals are introducing dishes like bite-sized fried chicken in containers that fit in a car’s cup holder and tightly rolled sandwiches that are easy to hold and dip in sauce.

Popeyes began selling Dip’n Chick’n last year after market research revealed people were very interested in a fried, boneless chicken snack that could be eaten “just like chips and dip,” says Dick Lynch, global chief brand officer for Popeyes.

Popeyes cut chicken so it curls up into a small scoop when cooked, creating the best-selling limited-time menu item in company history at that time. “That was the birth of the ‘ip’ns,'” Lynch says.

Increasingly consumers don’t want to sit at a table to eat, cut their food, let alone use two hands. Fast-food restaurants say that consumers are flocking to foods that are small and easy to eat in cars.

“Americans eat more on the go than anywhere else in the world,” and the trend is growing, says Wade Thoma, vice president of the menu innovation team for McDonald’s USA. Drive-through orders make up around 70% of its sales, he says.

Seventeen percent of all meals ordered at restaurants in the US are now eaten in cars, according to NPD Group, a consumer research firm.

At the same time, snacking, especially between lunch and dinner, is more common. In surveys consumers said “they had a craving for something and they wanted some, but they didn’t want a lot,” says Bonnie Riggs, restaurant industry analyst at NPD. Whereas ice cream or chips used to suffice as a snack, people now want something more substantial like a small sandwich, Riggs says.

McDonald’s introduced Chicken McBites in the US earlier this year. The small fried chicken pieces come in a container that fits in a car’s cup holder with a slot for dipping sauce. A limited time offer, it came in three sizes — “snack,” “regular,” and “shareable.” The company plans to introduce a spicy version nationwide next week.

Chicken “doesn’t have a lot of flavor itself, but is a great flavor carrier,” says Lynch of Popeyes. It is “almost a canvas to paint on,” with marinade, spiced breading and dipping sauce.

Many people prefer boneless chicken pieces with irregular, rather than uniform shapes, which they say seems more natural. “That was really noticed by our customers in testing,” says Rich Scheffler, group director of marketing and innovation for Whataburger, the San Antonio-based burger chain.

In April, Whataburger introduced Whatachick’n Bites aimed at car eaters and snackers. Like most of the new bite-sized chicken meals, they are made from cuts of chicken, restaurants say, not reconstituted chicken, to create irregular shapes and sizes.

Some fast-food chains have long sold bite-sized food like KFC’s Popcorn Chicken, White Castle’s Chicken Rings (think onion ring-shaped chicken), or Sonic’s potato Tots…..

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